The World Left Behind
by NoteEmmy
Summary: Noa rebuilds himself from mismatched data and becomes fixated on the other Yuugi. Once he pulls the other into the world Kaiba has no choice but to try and get him out.


His plan was simple and brilliant. When he crawled his way out of the small subspace he'd been wedged into, data slowly collecting into relevant bits and pieces, Noa began thinking about what he'd done. Some of his memories were corrupted, some files were inaccessible; he could only think of a few reasons why this would be. It also seemed his world had been rather destroyed in whatever battle had overcome his data.

What he could remember was losing- losing to someone rather _phenomenal._ He'd been dueling his step brother, nearly won, and then was butted in by that ridiculous form. It took him a bit longer than he would have liked, and it put every other process on hold as he thought of the man who had taken everything away from him.

Yuugi- wasn't that right? Some weird, estranged version of Yuugi. From the sole files he could pull from Kaiba's database without being noticed it seemed wrong. The Yuugi the other had in some of his pictures was not the one he remembered. The one he remembered was strong, resilient, a smoother and much angrier voice than that small body seemed capable of producing. He was fiery and challenging. Kaiba's rival no less. Every video he scrolled by that Yuugi showed up without fail.

It was that Yuugi that had defeated him and brought down his virtual world. It was that Yuugi he needed to take.

At first it wasn't for entirely nefarious purposes. Something in him felt lighthearted. It felt like a part forgotten, and it was as the data overwrote itself. It didn't belong and so it was tossed out to the endless space with whatever parts of him were missing. It didn't matter as he rebuild himself and slowly integrated into a world that was building itself up around him.

His plan was to grab Yuugi and get him to teach him how to duel. Though Yuugi had defeated him in a duel, he could see Yuugi defeated _everyone_ in duels. That kind of talent could be useful. And if he learned and put it to use against Seto then he would surely be free and in his rightful place. That was how it started.

But it progressed into a dark and disgusting greed as he watched every duel that passed his little screen. This man was passionate. This man was beautiful. Everything about him screamed of a champion. And every subtle move from him drew Noa's eyes all the more. Those moves of his hips, the way that ridiculous outfit clung to him. Before he really realized what was happening he'd declared to himself that Yuugi was his to have. His to beat. Only his.

An obsession that perhaps mirrored a certain steely-eyed CEO.

And it was the only thing that kept said man watching as Yuugi entered those newly built VR pods. He'd been careful. He'd combed every piece of data before going into beta, which Yuugi was not involved with. Yuugi was only here to play once everything had been checked and triple checked. It wasn't the Yuugi he was familiar with but the fact that it was a game, he knew, would draw the other Yuugi out to play.

He was sorely tempted to get in himself or perhaps cut the obligations short and just challenge him to a duel. How long had it been since their last? But he couldn't just then.

Kaiba could, and did, however, keep a close watch on Yuugi's game. Everything seemed normal. Just how Noa preferred it. When Yuugi was passing into a dark cave that's when he struck. He attached himself like the virus he'd become to Yuugi's back and extracted him like data. He was only making a copy, after all. That's all he planned on doing. But he got way more than he bargained for.

When Yuugi came out he was breathless and panicked. Kaiba thought it was because something had gone wrong. He was terribly right.

"Mou hitori-… he's not here!"

A thin eyebrow lifted. "Speak sense." He barely had the time for this garbage.

Yuugi raised his watery big eyes to the other. "He's gone!"

Maybe if it were anyone else he'd ask for an elaboration. Or have them thrown out. But he knew what he was being told, despite how he wanted desperately not to. Not to be involved in this nonsense. The other Yuugi was gone. His rival was gone. And that was unacceptable.

He pointed a finger dramatically in the boy's face. "I challenge you to a duel!" The best and only way to draw his rival out of hiding.

Yuugi seemed frustrated. "Kaiba-kun now is not the time for such things!" He didn't understand the plan of action.

It left Kaiba feeling raw and empty. Where was the other one? Had he really gone? …impossible. The only answer was the virtual reality. Had he somehow gotten lost in there? He didn't have any real qualifications for pulling aimless spirits from his game. Just the thought of something so ridiculous made him cringe. But he had no choice.

"I'm going in."

The phrase alone had several security guards sweeping through the park to empty it. The doors were shut and his best tech team appeared out of nowhere to visit the panels and set his game up. Yuugi was escorted elsewhere. Kaiba approached the pod warily before glaring and stepping inside.

Noa had had his work cut out for him in such a short time. The Yuugi he'd copied was the one he'd been after indeed. But that spirit of fire set out to burn him. He'd been separated from Yuugi and this was entirely unacceptable. He challenged unknowns to duels, trying to drag whoever was responsible for this mess out. He was so sick of all these technology shenanigans. He hardly had the time for them.

Then, before he could even act, an unbearable force had him on his knees. A teal colored youth stepped from the shadows and he grit his teeth through the pressure. "Noa…" After all this time. Why now? And why him?

The boy walked calmly forward, keeping the man in place through will alone. He seemed to have no useable powers in this realm. This was Noa's home. He could easily trap the other here and do to him as he felt like.

In a quick snake like move he reached up to cup the other Yuugi's jaw. The look of hate that was sent his way as the other tried to struggle desperately sent a thrill down his spine. He could see now why his step brother was so obsessed.

"Coward." The spirit hissed, feeling pained with every struggle. He refused to give up.

"Hardly. I found something I want and I went out of my way to obtain it. These are not the actions of a coward." He leaned in closer, inspecting those now blood red eyes. It was weird… surely he'd seen Yuugi had a purple hue, hadn't he? Maybe the data was a bit corrupted.

He hissed. "Don't talk about me like I'm some plaything." It made him sick to feel that hand on him but he seemed unable to do anything about it. "Where is Yuugi?" He couldn't feel his partner's presence. If Noa was responsible for hurting him there would be much more trouble.

His nails clipped into the spirit's skin as a crazed look took his eyes over. He leaned in close enough to brush skin to skin. "You are my plaything. I've decided so." The loss of whatever good data he'd earned had truly turned him into a monster.

Not one the other Yuugi was afraid of, but one he wasn't sure he was ready to face. How to defeat this? "I refuse." He growled.

There was a clenched and low laughter from the boy as his hand sunk beneath the spirit's skin. The action was painful- as was him going through his memories like they were just more data for him to play with and manipulate. He tried but eventually the spirit cried out in pain as he was forcibly rewritten. Everything he'd worked so hard for, just taken from him. With nothing he could do. It left him bare. And raw.

And more lost than he'd ever felt.

It was where Kaiba found himself. Not in the world he'd created for gamers, but something dark and cracked around the edges. There were hints of aqua and teal that set his nerves on edge. A signature that belonged to someone who was supposed to be dead. But the calling cards were too hard to ignore.

"Show yourself, Noa!" The sooner he got this little game over with the sooner he could call on a debt from Yuugi for doing this.

Kaiba got much more than he bargained for as Noa appeared in the distance, sitting on some ridiculous throne. Really that wasn't as much of a shock. The real kick was that he had the other Yuugi with him- as he'd suspected.

And his respected rival was curled around the other like some dirty pet, blood red eyes devoid of any kind of life. What he was being faced with made a very rare concerned look cross his face before he forced it away. That same look, though less sinister, had been forced to his baby brother the last time this had happened. His bond with Mokuba had been strong enough to break that brainwashing.

…what on earth did he really have with the other Yuugi?

Noa reached up, running his fingers through the spirit's hair, something that made every part of Kaiba's body tense on principal. "If this is all you have to offer, the show has gone stale." He tried to keep his voice as calm and condescending as possible, crossing his arms to cover for how stiff he'd gone.

"This is something entirely different." Noa assured, hand still close on the other Yuugi's body.

"It looks like exactly the same bullshit you pulled before when you lost. How do you expect-"

"Ah! But I lost to this man here. You couldn't finish the job on your own so he stepped in for you. Noble. Foolish, but noble." He cut him off with a sheer note of creeping insanity. And then his tone dropped low as he crooned to the man curled around him. "Now he belongs to me."

Some small part of the spirit struggled. It was invisible to Noa but Kaiba was sure he saw it. Of course he did. The other Yuugi was too strong to be owned by anyone. Especially to be owned by this brat. He needed to pick at this until the other found some sense.

"I don't have time for this, _Yuugi_." Creasing that name with the lilt only deserved for his rival. "Your other is waiting all by himself for you to return." Would that be enough?

He saw the waver in the spirit's eyes but as Noa pulled him closer it vanished. "You won't take him from me. I suggest you run along." Noa was only too sure of himself. That his plan was fool proof this time- certainly Seto proof.

That wasn't it. "You would disrespect your title by becoming this boy's dog? I know you're better than this!" A little bit of real anger seeping in. Kaiba couldn't keep it to himself.

Those empty red eyes turned towards Kaiba and there was a flicker of something real there. "Kai…" He rasped.

It was enough to throw Noa off. He'd taken everything away from the other. How could he still be fighting- responding to Seto, of all people!? "No." He growled, hands cupping the spirit's face to turn him back.

And then he did the most disgusting thing of all. He kissed the spirit.

Everything in Kaiba, the tightly wound control, snapped. "I am the only one who owns the right to defeat you! Wake up or be left in the dust like the pathetic waste you've lowered yourself to!" There was something that hit him that he wasn't entirely familiar with when it came to the other Yuugi.

Desperation.

He needed, desperately, for this to stop. For the other Yuugi to be strong enough to wake from this. To not give in to this.

Such needy passion broke the spirit's trance, if only a little. But enough for him to push back despite the chains keeping him. Recognition burned in those crimson eyes, something that woke up a relief in Kaiba. In one swift move he was reaching out a world away, that short arm reaching for Kaiba to pull him away from this madness. Kaiba was the only one he could rely on. He was the only one who knew this world well enough to defeat it.

Noa dug into him again, trying to put up a barrier between the offender and claw his downloading memories at the same time. "No!" He refused to let it happen this way.

The forcefield was more than child's play to Kaiba. He easily shattered it and crossed it, fingers brushing the spirit's and igniting more consciousness in him. His hand grasped the smaller one before pulling him out of the pathetically weak grip. Noa slunk back, throne disappearing.

"Wh-why… how…"

He pulled the tragically frail and desperate form into his arms like he was everything in the world he needed at that moment. The spirit seemed still very lost. "It takes a good virus to destroy a pesky one." He'd destroy that little nuisance from the inside out and hopefully never see him again.

And with that he turned his back on the crippled boy to place the other Yuugi down so he could get a better look at him. Those eyes weren't at full recognition. He wasn't entirely sure what Noa had done to his rival. Messing with him like he was data would only worsen the situation.

Instead he delivered a cold hard slap to the man's face.

It seemed enough to incense him. "Kaiba- _…Kaiba_!" He yelled as he always did when he was angry with the other.

The relief that swelled in the brunet's chest was kept well hidden. His hands were a little too reluctant to leave the other's shoulders though, he realized. "Good. Now that I have your full attention." He smirked.

"What did you do?"

Blue eyes rolled. "Kept you from becoming a pathetic wretch." It was all he really wanted to say. That kiss would be burned into his memory for some time to come. "Now don't move."

"Do not order me around!" He was angry but had no real place to put it. This wasn't Kaiba's fault. Kaiba did just come here and pull him from something. With the slap, though, Kaiba was the only force he could be upset with.

"Don't move." He ordered again with a smarmy smirk as he disappeared.

Yuugi was directed to go back and retrieve the other. Kaiba had no need to stick around and watch. His work was well done beyond that point. But something kept him stuck to his spot as he watched Yuugi lose consciousness and then regain it.

When he came out those angry eyes were on him again. His chest eased. "I'm not exactly sure what happened." The spirit admitted. Things were pretty fuzzy. He felt like he was missing something and it kept his anger flared. But he knew credit where it was due. "…thank you."

Kaiba raised his head to look down at the other. "Don't bother." He turned with a sweep of his coat. "I'll see you at sundown for a duel." The other couldn't refuse now. That was all he cared about. That… and regaining a sense of what had been lost when he'd seen the other draped around Noa in such a disgusting fashion.

The spirit's hands clenched. He didn't have the time for this. But Kaiba was owed something. "Fine."

The final release left his chest as Kaiba left the room. No more virtual reality for Yuugi. Anyone else at all could get caught up in it. But if he saw the other Yuugi in someone's arms like that again-… no. No. That attachment was unnecessary. All he had to do was look forward to the duel.

That attention on him where it rightfully belonged.


End file.
